is sad at least for time the Lord carry us above such an Exit Some viz. well ordered souls die fiducially knowing things to be right between God and them and that is comfortable both for time and eternity Well then if hereby we come to have such a glorious Victory over Death and the Grave it must then be a great attainment to have all things in order between God and us and consequently greatly our concern to have things so 2. Hereby we come to have a rich and glorious entrance ministred to us into everlasting life and glory into Heaven and blessedness As hereby we come to be glorious Conquerours over the natural death so hereby we come to have a rich and glorious entrance ministred to us into the eternal life which also carries much sweetness and blessedness in it 2 Pet. 1.5.11 And besides this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge c. that is grow as compleat in Grace as possibly you can make sure of your salvation make all ready in the matters of your souls and what then So an entrance shall be ministred to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And is not this a blessed attainment Take this in three things 1. Hereby the soul comes to enjoy much of Heaven here upon earth much of blessedness and glory whilest on this side blessedness and glory then hath a man an abundant entrance ministred unto him into heaven and glory when he hath much of heaven and glory given out to him here on earth large earnest and first-fruits and this the soul has that hath all things right in the matters of his spiritual state all things ready and in order within Hence we read sometimes of the earnest sometimes of the first-fruits of the Spirit Eph. 1.14 Rom. 8.28 And the soul that is most ready has the greatest earnest and first-fruits that is to say the greatest beginnings of Heaven here upon earth For that which makes us ready for a dying hour is something of heaven dropped into the soul here 2. Hereby he comes to go triumphingly from Earth to Heaven to go to Heaven and Glory with a Crown upon his head and is not this a sweet attainment Then hath a man an abundant entrance into Heaven and Glory when he goes triumphingly thither When a man passes to heaven and glory with visions thereof in his eye and prelibations thereof in his soul with a clear witness and evidence in his Spirit that he is going to possess the fulness thereof with God and Christ for ever when a man enters into life without any rebukes from God or his own Conscience without any stumbling through doubting or unbelief This is the happiness of such as have all things well in their souls before a dying hour comes It is with such in death as it was with John in a Vision Rev. 4.1 They as it were hear a voice from Heaven saying Come up hither and immediately they are in the Spirit Some poor souls croud into Heaven through a throng of doubts and unbelief difficulties and despondencies through many fears and temptations insomuch that it might be truly said of them that they are searcely saved as the Apostle's expression is but others go through none of these they go triumphantly with a Crown upon their Heads as it were So Paul 2. Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not unto me only but to all them also that love his appearing Methinks I see how this holy soul went triumphingly to the Throne of God and the Lamb. When David and the house of Israel brought up the Arke of the Lord it was with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet So when such a soul goes to rest 't is with a kind of shouting and triumph among the Saints themselves who all reach the same heaven and glory at last There is a very great deal of difference in their death and in their going to that heaven and glory As you know two Ships may arrive at the same Harbour yet with much difference as to the manner of their coming in The one makes a shift to get in but 't is with her Anchors lost her Sails rent her Flags down her Masts broken and the like but the other comes in bravely riding as 't were in triumph with her Sails spread her Anchors safe her flags flying her Trumpets sounding and her Mariners shouting So great a difference there is in the passing of Saints to Heaven and Blessedness Now what an attainment must it be to go with shouting and triumph 3. Hereby the soul comes to be admitted to and invested with an eminent fulness of Blessedness and Glory with God for ever Then has a man an abundant entrance into heaven and glory when he is admitted to and invested with an eminent fulness of glory and blessedness in heaven for ever and this he hath who has all right and ready in the concerns of his soul when he comes to die Such a one receives a full reward as the expression is 2 Epistle of John 8. and has much fruit abounding to his account Phil. 4.7 And O what a sweet and blessed attainment does this speak it to be to have all in order against a dying hour comes Now if it be such an attainment to have things set right and in order in our souls against a dying hour then surely it must needs be highly our concern to have all things so CHAP. IV. Which shews the state of men and women under death as a further evidence of our assertion AS to have all things ready and in order when a dying hour comes is an high and glorious attainment so such is the state and condition of men and women under death that it cannot but be highly their concern to have all things set right all things ready in the matters of their souls when they come to die This I will set before you in three Propositions First Proposition is this That such is the state and condition of men and women under death that there is no return for them into this life any more for ever When once a man's Sun is set it never rises more when once a man has his Exit is gone off the stage of this world he never enters more there is no more any part to be acted here by him this you have in the Text Before I go hence and be no more that is no more in this World So Job 7.7 8 9 10. O remember that my life is wind mine eyes shall no more see good The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more Thine eyes are upon me and
not get union with Christ and an interest in Christ This is what lies at the bottom and foundation of all of all our hopes of all our mercies of all our comforts of all our acceptation and communion with God of all Grace on Earth and of all Glory in Heaven and without it whatsoever our attainments in Religion are whatever our Profession may be whatever place or esteem we may have to the Church of God though never so raised and eminent yet we have nothing that will avail us in a dying hour I remember a saying of a learned man That thou maist live in death saith he get into Christ implant thy self into Christ by believing Faith joyns and unites us to Christ and they that are in Christ cannot die for Christ is their life And indeed if we have union with Christ he will be life in death it self to us Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord that is die having union with Christ being implanted into Christ Rev. 14.13 If we have union with Christ he will not be only life in death to us but he will even turn death it self into life the King of Terrors into a King of Comforts insomuch that the soul shall be able to triumph over it as the Apostle doth 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. whereas without this without union with Christ and an interest in Christ we shall never be able to look death in the face with comfort but shall when we come to die be some of the miserablest spectacles in the world It is the speech of a worthy Divine who is long since gone hence A Christless dying man or woman says he is one of the saddest spectacles in the world For a man to be dying and not Christless that is comfortable for such an one dies but to live for ever he dies the death of Nature to live the life of Glory for a man to be Christless and not dying is something tolerable for who knows but that the next meeting at an Ordinance may be the time of God's love to him of drawing him into Christ but for a man to be dying and Christless Christless and dying too that is intolerable that is terrible indeed for such an one dies to be damned and he is going off from all hopes and possibilities of mercy for ever Oh therefore above all press after union with Christ and an interest in Christ this was Pauls great care and solicitude to the very last that so he might go off the Stage with comfort and that for which he accounted all things but dung as most base and vile Phil. 3.8 9. O Soul didst thou indeed know and consider of how much weight and importance an interest in Christ is to thee with reference to thine eternal happiness thou would cry out as eagerly for Christ as ever Rachel did for children saying Give me Christ or else I die give me union with Christ and an interest in Christ or I am undone eternally Oh look to the great uniting act of Faith make a right choice of Christ chuse him as your Lord and Head your King and Saviour and renew your choice of him every day resigning up your selves entirely to him to be saved and governed by him in his own way Secondly Would you indeed have all set right and made ready in the matters of your souls for a dying hour then press after a firm and unshaken assurance of an interest in God and his love and of your right and title to eternal life of another and a better life than this is here without some good evidence for Heaven and some well-grounded assurance of an interest in God and Eternal Life things are not ready with us nor are we in such a preparedness for a dying hour as we ought to be though a man hath an interest in God and his love though he hath a right and title to eternal life and happiness yet as long as he is in the dark and at an uncertainty in his own soul about it things are out of order with him and he is greatly unready for a dying hour For pray mark as our interest in this is requisite to our dying happily so the sight and assurance of that interest is requisite to our dying comfortably Indeed when a man hath attained to some good evidence for heaven to some well-grounded assurance of his interest in God and Christ then are things in a good posture with him in reference to a dying hour then he can play with Death and triumph over it as Job did when he could say I know that my Redeemer liveth Job 19.25 26. And as the Apostle seems to speak of it 2 Cor. 5.12 We know that when our earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven None of you do comfortably leave your house unless you have another to go unto much less can you comfortably quit this world unless you have some well-grounded assurance of another and a better life Take a man that is in the dark and at a loss as to his interest in God and Christ and he knows not what Death will do to him nor where it will lodge him whether in heaven or in hell whether upon the Throne of Glory or in the Prison of eternal Darkness in the Bosom of Christs love or under the Revelations of his infinite and eternal wrath and is such a one ready for a dying hour Surely no As ever therefore you would have things right and ready within indeed for a dying hour you must press after an assurance of your interest in God and Christ you must do as the Apostle exhorts give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 You must every day prest after a fuller and firmer assurance as to your eternal interest you must be much in faith much in prayer much in examining your evidences much in proving your state much in looking after the seal and evidence of the blessed Spirit which is indeed all in all and never rest till you can say My Lord and my God my Heaven my Glory God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever O then all will be sweet and well with you this is that which the Saints of old have laboured after with their whole might Say unto my soul saith David to God I am thy salvation Psal 35 3â— set me as a seal upon thy heart and as a seal upon thine arm Cant. 8.6 This Austin pressed much after Lord saith he tell me what thou art to me say unto my Soul I am thy salvation so say it that I may hear it behold the ears of my heart are before thee open them O Lord and say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation O my Beloved this is worth pressing after for this is the
driven from hence for ever O doleful to be in the flames to suffer the vengeance of Eternal fire to be sinning and always bearing the punishment of sin and all this for ever O this makes it out of measure heavy thus and always thus under the wrath of God and for ever so this puts weight into it Thus you see a little of the weight of Eternity O contemplate it daily 3. Consider and contemplate how doleful a thing it will be to miscarry for ever and on the other hand what a wide door of mercy there is open to you the fair opportunity you have of making a blessed provision for your souls and eternity 1. Consider and contemplate how doleful a thing it will be to miscarry for ever to perish eternally the more worth there is in the soul the greater weight there is in Eternity the more doleful it will be to perish or miscarry as to the interest of them to miscarry in our Estate in our trade in our name in the change of our condition in this world or the like this is sad and sinks many but Oh what is this to the miscarriage of the soul for ever what is this to a miserable Eternity to the loss of God of Christ of the Comforter of Heaven and Eternal life what is this to the wrath of God to the vengeance of Eternal fire to utter darkness to blackness of darkness for ever O Sirs to have infiniteness and Eternity combined against you to make you miserable and to be for ever as miserable as infiniteness and eternity can make you as assuredly you will in case you neglect to make provision for your souls and the future life O how dreadful how doleful will this be and what bitter lamentations will it fill you with for ever Did Esau weep when he had lost his Birth-right and did Lysimachus upbraid himself and bewail his folly for parting with his Kingdom for a draught of water O then how will you weep and wail and even tear and torment your selves for ever for your sin and folly when you shall find that for a little of this world for the satisfaction of a lust for a few dreggy drossy pleasures and sensual delights or perhaps through a mere sloth of spirit you have lost your souls and have plunged your selves into an infinite Ocean of Eternal woe and misery whence thereis no redemption for ever for you Pray lay that Scripture to heart now Lu. 13.27 28. Depart from me says Christ all ye workers of iniquity Depart here is the Doom that will pass at last upon every unrepenting unbelieving sinner every soul that makes not ready for a dying hour well and what then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you thrust out O Sirs when you shall see such and such lodged safe in Heaven in the Bosom of Christ and your selves shut out and not only so but cast into utter darkness as you have it added Mat. 18.12 when you shall see your selves shut up in the infernal Pit and there seal'd up under Gods eternal wrath O then ye will weep and gnash your teeth indeed then your own Conscience will be eternally a second Hell to you tearing and tormenting your souls in the remembrance of your sin and folly in neglecting to prepare for and make sure of a better state Think of these things ere it be too late 2. Consider and contemplate what a wide Door of Mercy there is open to you and what a fair opportunity God gives you to make a blessed provision for your souls and Eternity What shall I say why Sirs the way of Salvation is made plain to you and you are daily called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb the great King of Heaven invites you to come and partake of his Gospel-Feast by one and another Servant of his which he sends to you he lets you know that all things are ready all that your souls can need to make them happy for ever Christ is ready and in him life is ready grace is ready peace is ready pardon is ready a compleat righteousness for your justification acceptation with God is ready heaven is ready salvation is ready and withal he bids you come yea he earnestly importunes and solicites you to come and feast your souls upon these things he freely and frequently offers himself and all to you intreating your acceptance yea more he opens the arms of his love to you assuring you of most cordial welcome and ready reception notwithstanding all your sins and miscarriages him that cometh unto me I will by no means cast out Jo. 6.37 let him be who and what he will a young an old sinner a small a great sinner a sinner that hath stood it out against me a little or a long time I will not cast him out my Grace is free my Fulness is large and sufficient my Blood is precious and has an infinite vertue in it my Spirit is powerful and efficacious I am every way mighty to save able to save to the utmost all that come to God by me yea 't is my work and business to save my Father seal'd and sent me for that end and for that end came I into the world and there did and suffered such things as I did and I may not I will not cast off any poor soul that will come and partake of me and my Fulness and that would fain be helped on towards life and blessedness This is really the language of Christ to poor sinners yea more he sends his Spirit to enlighten to convince to perswade to draw and allure them and he does move in them and strive with them O what a wide door of mercy is there here open to you Sirs and how fair is your opportunity of preparing for and making sure of a blessed Eternity O accordingly as you love your souls and would live for ever come into Christ come and apply and improve him in a way of believing for the good of your eternal souls in his strength set upon repenting believing work the work of your souls and Eternity and your day being so bright as indeed it is O labour to know the things of your peace in your day lest neglecting them Christ speedily say of you as once with tears in his eyes he did of neglecting Jerusalem Luke 19.42 O that thou hadst known in thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes I have done I 'l close all with that holy wish for you my dear Congregation and my self that Austin was wont to make for himself and his people namely That as they had been often crowded together to worship God in that earthly Temple wherein he preach'd so they might eternally live toge-in the Heavenly Temple above So my wish and desire is that we my beloved you and I who have often been thronged and crowded together in an earthly House may live together eternally and eternally adore God together in our Father's House above and if we shall never preach and pray and here and sing together more on Earth as I am apt to think we shall not yet that we may praise and love and admire God and sing Hallelujas to him for ever together in Heaven Amen Amen FINIS
Serenissima Anna D G Ang SccE Fran et Hiber Reg Fidei Defencor Printed Sold by N. Boddington at the Golden Ball in Duck Lane The Great Concern OR A SERIOUS WARNING to a Timely and Thorough PREPARATION FOR DEATH With Helps and Directions in order thereunto By EDWARD PEARSE Being the last that ever he preached John 9.4 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work The Third Edition recommended as proper for Funerals LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St. Paul's Church-yard and B. Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil 1674. TO THE READER Reader IF thou art one who indeed livest in the belief of a future Life an Eternity of happiness or misery when time and days shall be more I am confident the ensuing Discourse will be grateful and welcom to thee I make no Apology for its plainness nor am I at all solicitous touching the censures I may fall under for publishing of it If thou wilt read it with an upright heart I question not but through a blessing from above it may do thy Soul good sure I am thou wilt find the Argument most weighty and the Concern thereof most important and woe be to that soul which misseth the design it tends to and aims at When men come to die and do find themselves launching forth into the vast Ocean of Eternity at least when once they find themselves incircled in that Ocean which quickly they do when once Death makes its approach then they see that their great interest lay beyond this poor vain perishing World and the things thereof then they see that their Great Concern was to have look'd and liv'd beyond time and days and have made provision for an Eternal state but alas alas then 't is too late too late then they cry out O Eternity Eternity O miserable souls that we are how did sin and the world blind and bewitch us that we could not ere now when 't is too late see the weight of an Eternal Interest O blind and bruitish Creatures that were taken with carnal and sensual things things pleasing only to a sensual appetite and forgot God the chief Good the things of Heaven and a blessed Eternity which would have made us happy for ever Now to prevent these doleful lamentations and such a dismal and remediless shipwrack of Eternal Souls as also to shew them the path of Life and to engage them to make sure of a blessed Eternity while time and days last is the design of the ensuing discourse and of the dying Author in it And the Lord the God of all Grace prosper it in order thereunto God has kept me for a full half year by the Graves side one while lifting me up then casting me down and now he seems to be speedily finishing my days to whom through the infinite riches of free Grace I can with some comfort and boldness say Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen And now farewel vain World farewel Friends and Relations farewel eating and drinking and blessed be God farewel sin and sinning within a few days I shall sin no more nor ever be in a possibility of sinning but shall be like my Lord and shall see him as he is And lastly farewel Reader E. P. READER THe first Impression of this Book was so well entertained among Ministers and others and wrought such good effects that the news thereof did very much rejoyce the Reverend Authour upon his Death-bed insomuch that be had an intent to give order for a good number to be given judging it the fittest present at his Funeral but being told there was not a sufficient number to gratifie the many thousands that would attend him to the Grave that good intention was prevented Since his death some pious persons have thought fit considering the suitableness of the subject to bestow many of these at Buryals instead of Rings Gloves Biskets Wine c Reading and Meditation much more beautifying such Solemnities than eating and drinking c. and have already found this way very instrumental to make people serious on such sad occasions Wherefore this good design is by the Generality of Ministers and others recommended to all that are desirous to mind their own Great Concern and to excite others to A Timely and thorough preparation for Death R. A. The Author hath two other Treatises viz. 1. The Best Match or the Souls espousal to Christ 2. A Beam of the Divine Glory or the unchangeableness of God opened THE Great Concern OR A PREPARATION FOR DEATH Psalm 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more CHAP. 1. Which contains an Introduction and an Explication of the Words of the Text with the General truth of them and therein the foundation of our intended Discourse TO walk with God here on earth while we live and to be ready to live with God for ever in Heaven when we come to die is the Great Work we have to do the Great Concern we have to mind in our present Pilgrimage To grow great and high in the World to build our Names and Families to live a life of sensual pleasures and delights spending our dayes in mirth these are low mean poor things things infinitely beneath the dignity of a soul and altogether unworthy of the least of its care and solicitude but to know God to love God to obey God to delight in God to contemplate the glorious excellencies and perfections of God to live upon God and to live to God upon him as our chief good and happiness and to him as our last end and withall to be found ready at last to live with him for ever to enter upon the beatifical Vision and to pass into that life of love and holiness which the Saints and Angels live above being made perfect in the Vision and Fruition of the God of Glory this is truly noble this is worthy of the care and solicitude of Souls to promote these things and more especially the latter is my design in fixing my Meditations on this Scripture which I am the rather induced to do because I am apprehensive that the time of my going hence when I shal be seen no more is drawing very nigh The words are a holy and pathetical wish and desire breathed out into the bosom of God by the man after his own heart and that when under sore and heavy afflictions under grievous sickness say some under great straits and distresses by reason of Absolon's rebellion and conspiracy against him say others In this wish or desire of his you may note three things 1. What that is which he wisheth for or desires of God and that is sparing mercy O spare me 2. The end of this wish or desire of his and that is the recovery of strength O spare me that I may recover strength 3. The ground or motive which induced him to make
a dying hour Truly the longer God spares us if we answer not his end in his sparing mercy the more miserable shall we be for ever It will be sad to perish at all but it will be doubly sad to perish under the long-suffering of God under the abuse of much goodness and long patience O to have many dayes and many years patience and goodness come in to witness against a man at last how sad will this be Think of and seriously lay to heart that Scripture Rom. 2.4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Every day which God in his patience affords us if we be not led to repentance is a day of treasuring up wrath heaping up to our selves wrath against the day of wrath when wrath shall come upon us to the uttermost Well think then what a mercy it is that God spares you as he does and what an Obligation this sparing mercy of his is upon you to set all things right in the matters of your souls against a dying hour comes 4. Are you sure that those helps and advantages which now you enjoy to further you in your work will alwayes last and be injoyed by you Suppose my Beloved that God should yet spare you and prolong your dayes in the Land of the Living Yet O how soon may all your helps and advantages to further you in this great Work be withdrawn from you Now blessed be God you injoy many blessed helps and advantages for your furtherance in this great Work but how quickly may they all be gone 1. How soon may the Reproofs the Counsels the Holy Examples of your godly Friends Ministers and Relations be withdrawn from you now you injoy the loving Reproofs the wholesome Counsels the Holy Examples of such and such Friends and Relations one reproves you for sin another quickens you to duty one dehorts you from the World and carnal pleasure another perswades you to close with Christ and walk with God to pursue after Heaven and eternal life one wooes and beseeches you another charges and commands you to labour to know God and to live to him to provide for another life and they all shew you the path of Life they tread the way to Heaven in your sight All which are great helps and advantages to further you in this Great Concern of yours But how soon may all these be withdrawn thy Friends thy Ministers thy Relations will speedily be lodged in the dust and thou shalt never have a word of reproof a word of counsel a word of quickning a word of encouragement or a pattern of faith and holiness set before thee by them any more for ever which would be a dreadful thing Now thy godly Father Mother Yoke-fellow Master Friend and Acquaintance is plying thee with counsels and instructions for the good of thy Soul to morrow it may be he or she goes down to the Gates of the Grave and then no more of this for ever 2. How soon may the Word and Ordinances of God which you now enjoy be withdrawn from you Now you enjoy the Word and Ordinances of God you go from Ordinance to Ordinance you have line upon line precept upon precept as it is Isa 28.10 Yea let me tell you you see and hear those things which many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see and hear but saw and heard them not Matth. 13.16 O how is Light and immortality brought to light to you How is the Way of Salvation made plain and manifest before you What glorious discoveries What blessed revelations What sweet and frequent tenders of Christ are made to you How freely are you called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb How lovingly does Christ invite you to himself How kindly does he stand knocking at the Door of your souls O my Beloved I may now say to you as Paul to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 6.2 Behold Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation O what helps and advantages are these But how soon may they all be gone How soon may the Word of God be withdrawn How soon may your light be put out and your souls left in darkness not knowing whither to go Remember that word of Christ and lay it to heart John 12.35 Yet a little while is the light with you walk while ye have the light least darkness come upon you and he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth While you have the light believe in the light that you may be the Children of the light It is a great question whether we may not lose Gospel-Ordinances and all and where are we then 3. How soon may the motions and strivings of the Spirit of God be withdrawn from you Now you have the motions and strivings of the Spirit of God in you and with you he moves upon the face of the waters in your souls he moves and strives in and by the Word and Ordinances Mercies and afflictions now you have enlightening and then you have quickening influences from him now he shews you your work and then he tenders you his assistance now he discovers the odiousness of sin to you and then he displays the beauty sweetness and excellency of Christ and holiness before you But alas How soon may all this be at an end Think of that terrible word Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall no more strive with man God may possibly the next day yea the next hour say to his Spirit concerning one or another of us let him alone strive no more with him move no more in him convince him no more perswade him no more draw and allure him no more he is addicted to his lusts and to this World let him alone he has no mind to Heaven no desire to make any provision for another World let them alone he is unwilling to see beyond time to eternity he is given to his carnal pleasures let him alone he has a resisting gain-saying spirit let him alone O how soon these and all other helps and advantages you now enjoy may be withdrawn who knows You have all these together in one Scripture which I desire you to lay to heart Luke 19.41 42. When he was come near he beheld the City speaking of Jerusalem and wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes They had had a day they did injoy the things of their peace they might and should have improved their day and the things of their peace by securing their eternal state But they neglected it and now all these are withdrawn from them which caused the Lord of Glory the Joy of the whole Earth to weep over them so
vagabond and a fugitive it changes it self into all shapes it will and it will not 't is like a leaf moved and carried about with the wind My vain and importunate heart hales me now to the Market and then to strifes and brawlings now to feasting and then to impure lusts now the flesh is inflamed with sordid titillations then the mind is defiled with filthy cogitations And who of us may not make the same complaint yea such is the enmity and opposition of our own hearts against Heaven and the things of Heaven that many times when we most resolve and set our selves to follow God and to pursue the work of our souls then they set us most back It was a great speech of that same Father This sayes he is my daily exercise with my whole strength I bend to thee and would mount up to God and Heaven but by how much the more strongly I endeavour to come up to thee by so much the more powerfully I am cast into the earth into my self and even under my self captivated to my lusts And so 't is often with us Le ts then and oppositions must be expected by us on all hands and we had need therefore the more to awaken to our work 'T is true if you will ingage in good earnest in the work of your souls your helps and incouragements will be greater than your lâ—ts and discouragements you will have more with you then against you You will have God with you and Christ with you and the Comforter with you and all the Graces of the Covenant with you be incouraged therefore to set upon Soul-work Now lay all these things together and see if it be an easie matter to make ready for a dying hour and if it be not why should we neglect Why should we delay any longer 6. How terrible will death be to you And what a dreadful change will it make with you in case you still neglect to make ready for it Suppose my Beloved you go on in the neglect of this Great Concern putting far from you the evil day what think you will the issue of it be will not death be most terrible to you when you shall be called to conflict with it Will it not make a dreadful change with you Surely it will Death to an unready soul what will it be It will be the period of all his mercies of all his comforts of all his hopes For such an one receives all his good things in this life before death comes Luke 16.25 It will be the sending of him to his own place the cutting him down as fewel for everlasting burnings It will be as a worthy Divine speaks the taking up of a Draw-bridge and the pulling up of the Flood-gates of Gods eternal wrath to let in the deluge of it upon his soul for ever It will be a change to him but what change will it be Surely a very sad one 1. A change from Earth to Hell And is not this a sad Change The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all that forget God Psalm 19.17 And we read of the rich man who was unready for death that being dead he was in Hell Luke 22.23 2. A change from Light to Darkness and is not that a sad change The Holy Ghost speaking of such an one tells us God shall drive him out of light into darkness and chase him out of the world Job 18.18 Here wicked men enjoy the light of Creature comforts but God will drive them out of these into the darkness of Eternal misery into utter darkness Mat. 25.30 into blackness of darkness Jude 13. 3. A change from pleasure to pain from delight to torment a sad change it is from pleasure and delight in sin to pain and torment for sin Luke 16.23 Here the soul sports himself in the pleasures and delights of sin and he thinks he can never have enough but then there will be an end of all those pleasures and delights and nothing but pain and torment and vexation will succeed them 4. A change from the offers of Grace to the Revelations of Wrath Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction saith the Psalmist in that 88 Psal 11. True in the 1 Pet. 3.19 20. we read of Christ's preaching by his Spirit to the Spirits in Prison that is to Souls in Hell But mark when was it that he preach'd to them not when in prison but in the days of Noah when they lived in the world There is never an offer of grace and love made to souls in the Grave while life lasts the soul hears the joyful sound And O the sweet offers the gracious tenders the loving invitations that are made to him of Christ of Grace of Eternal Life and Love O the wooings the meltings the entreatings the allurings of Divine Love to and over the soul but when death comes farewell all these farewell all the sweet offers of Christ and all the blessed motions of the Spirit then there 's nothing but wrath reveiled and wrath shall come on the neglecting soul to the uttermost 5. A change from fair probabilities to utter impossibilities of life and salvation a sad change still Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation now and not hereafter 2 Cor. 6.2 Now there is a fair probability for the worst of sinners to be saved if they will look after Salvation and mind their Eternal Concerns Christ is both able and willing to save to save was the end of his coming into the world and of all he did and suffered here 1 Tim. 1.15 Now they are besought and entreated to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.19 20. but when death comes that changes these fair Probabilities into utter impossibilities of life and salvation Therefore mark Now says the Apostle is the day of salvation that is now while life lasts and while the Gospel is preached 6. A change from hope to despair a sad change indeed We read that the hopes of the Hypocrite shall perish Job 8.13 and that the expectation of the wicked shall perish Prov. 10.28 Whether men be open sinners or close hypocrites their hopes at last shall all fail and turn into despair despair of ever seeing God or enjoying the least tittle or Iota of good for ever Thus death will be terrible to you and make a dreadful change with you in case you neglect to make ready for its coming 't will affright you as bad as the hand-writing upon the wall did that proud King Dan. 5.5 6. Which made his countenance change his thoughts to trouble him and the joynts of his loyns to be losed and his knees to smite one against another O when death comes and thou shalt be found unready how will thy countenance change thy joynts be losed thy thoughts troubled and thy heart tremble within thee In a word I would say to you as the Prophet spake of old Isa 10.3 What will you do
pursue Soul-work there is much contempt of Christ and Grace and this is that whieh makes it to be exceeding sinful Christ offers himself and his Grace to you he offers you life he offers you peace he offers you pardon he offers you righteousness he offers you strength he offers you all the treasures of heaven and withal calls upon you to accept these offers and to take home these things to your selves but you by your delays powre contempt upon all you in effect say neither Christ nor his grace neither Christ nor the purchase of his Blood are worth minding worth looking after Oh what contempt is this and what sin is this by delays you do in effect say there is something better than Christ and something of greater concernment to you than Salvation by Christ you plainly say that indeed you will have Christ hereafter and Salvation hereafter but for the present you had much rather have your lusts and worldiy pleasures Oh tremble at the thoughts of this and let it affright you out of your delays and put you immediately upon Soul-work In a word never any pretended that they minded the concerns of their souls union with Christ walking with God making sure their Calling and Election so soon many have repented that they have minded these things so late I remember a bitter complaint of Austin in his Book of Confessions I have loved thee too late saith he O thou so ancient and yet so new a beauty I have loved thee too late He bewails that he had so long laid out his love upon the creature and not given Christ his love could you ask all the Saints in Heaven whether ever they repented that they minded the work of Christ and their souls so soon they would tell you no they repented of nothing but that they minded it so late once more therefore let me call upon you to fall immediately upon Soulwork and never rest till thy heart cries out to God as Austin did when God had really shewed him himself and made him sensible of his sins when God saith he had shewed me my sin and misery there arose a great storm within me which carried with it a great showr of tears and indeed I let loose the reins to tears crying out to God in such words as these O Lord how long how long wilt thou be angry how long shall it be said to morrow and to morrow wherefore may it not be now why may there not an end be put to my sin and filthiness this very hour And indeed God made that very season the season of his Conversion So labour to see thy sin and misery so far as that thou maist cry out with a holy restlesness to God how long shall it be to morrow and to morrow why may I not be turned to thee now why may not my soul be engaged in the work of Heaven and Eternity now Fifthly would you indeed set all right in your souls and make all ready for a dying hour then be much and importunate with God in prayer to teach you so to number your days as to apply your hearts to wisdom This I ground upon Psal 90.12 where Moses the man of God is found in this practise Lord saith he teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom To number our days is not to number them in an Arithmetical but a spiritual way it is not to cast up how many days the life of man consists of that is easily done but it is spiritually and practically to consider and lay to heart the shortness and uncertainty of our lives together with the various miseries and calamities that do attend them So Mollerus It is seriously and fiducially to contemplate the vanity of life as short and uncertain and as attended with sorrows miseries and innumerable troubles and to apply the heart to wisdom 't is to make Religion and the work of a man's soul his main business it is to make it his great business and endeavour to get an interest in God and Christ in the Covenant of Grace and Eternal life and in time to provide for and make sure of a blessed Eternity it is to set a man's whole soul to the work of God and his own salvation Now as ever you would indeed make ready for a dying hour beg of God to teach you thus to number your days and thus to apply your hearts to wisdom There are two things I would observe and so close this First That such a numbring of our days is what the best of Saints need and may make great use of Moses was a very holy man and yet he looked upon it as a work useful and of great importance to him to contemplate the vanity of life and to think of the shortness and uncertainty of his abode here the most holy souls need this the most holy souls need humbling they need weaning from this world they need quickning unto duty they need to have their hearts awakened to mind heaven and a future life and the right numbring of our days is that which greatly conduceth hereunto Secondly observe that as this is a work needful and useful for the best of Saints to be employed in so it is a work above their own strength and that which they need Divine Assistance to enable them unto Moses was an eminently holy man and yet as he saw he had need of this so he saw it was a work above his power and therefore he goes to God and puts in himself among the rest and prays for his teachings herein let us do 〈◊〉 let us lye much at the foot of 〈…〉 his teachings whereby we may be enabled so to number our days as thus to apply our hearts unto wisdom beg him to make us see the vanity and uncertainty of our lives and that so as effectually to engage us to make out after a better life CHAP. VIII Wherein more particular helps and directions are laid down in order to the setting of things right and making all ready for a dying hour BUt I would come nearer this great business and give you some more particular directions in order to your making all ready for a dying hour and First would you indeed have all things right in the matters of your souls for a dying hour then get into Christ get union with Christ and an interest in Christ by believing union with Christ and an interest in Christ is most requisite and necessary to fit and prepare us for a dying hour and without it we have we can have nothing set right nothing in order nothing in readiness for that hour You know how the Scripture speaks He that hath the Son hath life but he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5.12 and there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 O my beloved we shall live or die be saved or damned for ever according as we do or do
one Question Dost thou indeed see thy particular concern in this business so see it as really to make it thy great work and solicitude while living to set all things right and make all things ready for a dying hour Some there are that are so happy as so to do and art thou one of them then why shouldest thou fear death yea why shouldest thou not exult and thy heart leap within thee in the sight and thoughts of its approach true it is a dark Entry but it leads to a fair and stately Palace even the Fathers house 't is a rough and difficult passage but it sets thee safe on shore in a large and fat land true it carries with it some what a black lowring and ghastly aspect to nature and nature may at first possibly be startled and recoil at the sight of it but open the eye of thy faith and behold it in the glass of the Gospel view it in the death of thy Lord and Head and it vvill not appear half so terrible yea thou vvilt find it to be not so much an enemy as a Friend not as a King of Terrours but rather as a King of Comforts not as an object to be dreaded and trembled at but rather to be rejoyced in and triumphed over by thee it vvill appear to be not loss but gain For me to die is gain says Paul Phil. 1.21 yea it vvill be thy great gain 't will be the period of all thy misery and the perfecting of all thy happiness and the truth is vve are never perfectly happy till death comes But for thy further encouragement I shall in a few particulars shew you vvhat Death come vvhen it vvill doth and vvill do for such as make all ready for its coming 1. Death vvhen ever it comes vvill translate thee thou ready soul from Earth to Heaven from a strange land to thine own home and Fathers house and vvill not this be a kindness as for this vvorld vvhat is it to the poor Saints but a strange land 't is Heaven is their home and Countrey hence they have confest and do confess themselves to be Pilgrims and Strangers upon earth Heb. 11.13 and the Psalmist in the words immediately foregoing my Text Psalm 39.12 owns it to God I am a Sojourner and a stranger here yea this world is not onely a strange land but a waste howling wilderness to such wherein they live among wild Beasts Lions Bears Wolves Tygers and the like Lusts within and Devils without ready daily to devour them but now when Death comes that carries them off from this strange land this waste howling wilderness to their own home and countrey which is Heaven yea to their Fathers house there to live with him to enjoy his presence and to adore his grace We know says the Apostle that when our earthly house of this tabernacle speaking of the Body shall be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 And you know how Christ speaks to his Disciples Joh. 14.2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you and thither does death carry you when it comes Oh sweet Oh my Beloved to go home to go to our Fathers house and to possess our Mansion there that Mansion which our dear Lord and Head is gone before to prepare for us how sweet is this to think of and how many deaths may it sweeten Suppose one of you were some thousand miles distant from your home Country and Comforts and you were in a waste howling Wilderness among Lions and Bears ready to devour you a wide Sea also being between home and you and suppose withal that a Ship should come and take you into her and in a short time set you down in your own Country and among all your Friends and comforts would not this be a kindness why this is your case here O ye preparing souls and this is the kindness death does for you when it comes while here you are ten thousand miles distant from your home and Country your Friends and Comforts and in a waste howling Wilderness but Death that swift Sailer comes and in a moment sets you down in Heaven your home and Country O how welcom should it then be to you 2. Death whenever it comes will carry thee from trouble to rest from a tempestuous Sea to a quiet Haven there to lie at an eternal Anchor in the bosom of thy sweet Lord. This world ever was and for any thing I know ever will be a place of trouble to the people of God sure I am Christ hath told us In the world you shall have tribulation Jo. 16.33 And who of us does not find it made good This world is a tempestuous Sea wherein the Waves lift up themselves and the poor Saints are afflicted and tossed with tempests and oftentimes not comforted Isa 54.11 We read in Jonah 1.13 that the Sea wrought and was tempestuous and the Mariners were fain to row hard to get the Ship to shore And truly thus 't is often in the case in hand the Sea of this world is tempestuous it works and the poor Saints are fain to row hard to get safe to shore yea as we read Acts 27.14 that an Euroclydon a tempestuous East-wind arose and beat upon Paul and others in the Ship with him which was ready to break all in pieces So truly the Saints in this world do meet with Euroclydons tempestuous winds not a few which beat upon them and are ready to split all and sink all but now when death comes those stormes are all made a calm and they I mean the Saints are brought into the desired Haven Death sets them at rest 't is indeed their dismission to rest There says Job speaking of the Grave the weary be at rest Job 3.17 Death sends the body to rest it frees it from all sensible sufferings when Death comes thy weak body thy sick body thy pained body thy consumptive body shall have its dismission to rest and Death sends the soul to rest that rests in God and with God Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord henceforth they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 and you have I think both together in one Scripture Isa 57.2 where speaking of the righteous 't is said They shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Hence we read that there remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 4.9 indeed it remains 't is not here but when death comes that sets them down in this remaining rest Oh what a kindness must this be Rest O how sweet is rest how desirable is rest and rest too after long and hard labour and trouble how sweet is rest to the labouring man that hath wrought hand all the day how sweet is rest to the weary traveller that hath gone a long and dirty journey how sweet is rest to the solicitous Mariner and how
observes so the immortality of the soul is here asserted Besides Abraham Isaac and Jacob with the rest of the good old Patriarchs and Servants of God who died long since are notwithstanding living still so Christ argues you know Mat. 22.32 that is their souls live as indeed do the souls of all that are gone hence their souls all live either in happiness or misery with God or Devils and so must thine and mine Sinner when our body shall be eaten by the worms our souls will live either in Heaven or Hell Oh think of this daily contemplate and say I have a soul within me that must live for ever and that as filled with even an infinite happiness or misery I have a soul within me that is capable of unspeakable joys or unconceivable torments and in the one or the other it will it must live for ever why then am I not more concerned for it 2. Seriously contemplate and daily soak your spirits in the thoughts of the wonderful weight and importance of Eternity the greatness of the concern of the other world O Eternity Eternity O vast great boundless Eternity how shall I do to speak of thee how are my thoughts lost and my spirit overwhelmed when I set my self to contemplate how great how weighty a thing thou art an endless boundless bottomless state a state that admits of neither change pause or period for ever a state of unconceivable happiness or misery happiness in the enjoyment or misery in the loss of and banishment from God and Christ for ever happiness in the fruition of infinite love or misery in the revelation of infinite wrath one of which every soul must be the object of for ever Eternity such is the weight of it in it self that indeed we know not how to conceive of it every thing but Eternity has an end a last so innumerable as the stars of Heaven are yet there is a last Star and the number of them has an end though we cannot reach it so innumerable as the Sands on the Sea-shore are yet there is a last Sand and the number of them has an end could we reach to it so numerous as the piles of Grass which are now and from the Creation of the world have been and to the end of the world shall be are yet there is an end of the number of them could we reach it there is a last pile a last spire of Grass so innumerable as the grains of Corn in all the Harvests that ever were or shall be are yet the number of them has an end though we cannot reach it and there is a last grain so innumerable as all the drops of Rain that ever did fall or shall fall upon the Earth from the Creation to the end of the world are yet still there is a last drop yea and that though all the drops contained in the wide and deep Sea be added thereunto so innumerable as the children of men have been are and shall be to the end of all things so innumerable as all the hairs of the head of them all have been are and will be so innumerable as all the thoughts of the hearts of all throughout all Ages have been are and will be so innumerable as all the Bruits and Animals which both the Earth and the Sea have brought forth do and will bring forth are and will be yet still the number of them has an end could we reach it and there is a last man a last hair a last thought a last animal should all the vast Body of the Heavens which our eyes behold be full written with figures by the hand of an Angel yet the number of those figures would have an end and there would be a last figure but as for Eternity that has no end no last could all those vast numbers prementioned be put together into one who could in the least conceive of the thousand thousandth part of it yet all this were nothing to Eternity no not the thousand thousandth part of it Thus Eternity is unconceivably weighty in it self and 't is Eternity indeed that puts weight into all other things 't is Eternity that puts weight into the future Judgment what were that Judgment but that 't is Eternal Judgment Heb. 6 2. 'T is Eternity that puts weight indeed into the happiness and joys of heaven what were that happiness and those joys were they not Eternal hence 't is cal'd Eternal life Eternal glory a never-fading Crown an everlasting Kingdom joy and pleasure for evermore So you know the Scripture speaks of it as that which is its Crown and perfection hence we read of being for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 to be with the Lord is sweet Peter found it so all the Saints in their measure find it so here but to be with the Lord for ever that makes it infinitely sweet indeed thus and thus for ever in the bosom of my Father's love and there for ever in the views of my Redeemers glory and there for ever joyned in with an innumerable company of Angels in loving praising admiring adoring and singing Hallelujahs to God and the Lamb and this for ever to be fully swallowed up in the Divine life the Divine will the Divine presence the Divine fulness and this for ever to be set above all fin to be delivered from an unavoidable necessity of sinning to an absolute impossibility of sinning and this for ever O how sweet how glorious is this this one word Eternity or for ever is that which puts great sweetness into it Again 't is Eternity that indeed puts weight into the miseries and torments of the damned what were the fire of Hell were it not unquenchable fire what were the Worm there were it not a never-dying Worm when the Scripture would speak of the exceeding greatness and severity of those torments you know 't is in this language There the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched Mark 9.44 their miseries and torments are eternal and indeed Hell would be no Hell in comparison had it not Eternity in it Most weighty is the meditation which I have read in a learned and holy man to this purpose O Eternity Eternity O never-ending Eternity O Eternity that can be measured by no spaces of time that can be perceived or apprehended by no humane intellect or understanding how unconceiveably dost thou augment the torments of the damned And but a few lines after he again cries out O Eternity Eternity thou and thou alone dost aggravate the torments the punishment of the damned beyond all measure Heavy is the punishment of the damned because of its sharp ness its extensiveness its universality there being all plagues and punishments in it but says he it is most heavy because of its Eternity Oh 't is this indeed that makes it intollerably great and heavy O not only to be banished from God and Christ to be driven from the Beatifical Vision but to be banished and